Personal organizers such as the Palm III(copyright) have become popular for providing information and computerized notekeeping in a highly portable way. The present invention is a protective cover for protecting a personal organizer, such as the Palm III, from damage that may occur through inadvertent dropping or collision with other items in a working environment.
It is an object of the invention to provide a resilient protective cover for a personal organizer that protects the device from damage by inadvertent dropping or collision and yet does not impede use of the device with the protective cover in place.
In accordance with the invention there is provided a protective cover for a personal organizer which has a front surface, a rear surface, two side surfaces and top and bottom end surfaces. The organizer includes a connector at one of the end surfaces and a display and operating buttons on the front surface. The protective cover comprises a shell of resilient material having a thickness in the range of one-eighth to three-eighths of an inch. The shell has a generally closed rear wall, side walls and top and bottom walls interiorly conforming to the corresponding surfaces of the organizer. A front wall of the shell has an opening allowing access to the operating buttons and viewing of the display. The front wall includes a peripheral portion substantially surrounding the opening and forming an interior recess for receiving the side, top and bottom surfaces. The peripheral portion is integral with the side walls and extends over substantially all peripheral edges of the front surface.
In a preferred embodiment the shell is formed as a single molded mode structure. The shell may also include a resilient exterior extension for receiving and holding a stylus for use in the personal organizer. The protective cover may further include a loop to enable the cover and the organizer to be easily held in the hand of a user with the loop over the hand. An opening may be provided in one end wall of the shell for allowing access to the connector. In one embodiment, wherein the personal organizer includes an optical reader on an end surface opposite the connector, the shell may be provided with an opening in a second end wall to allow use of the optical reader.